Campaign to locate rare owlet in Chhattisgarh

Korba, Chhattisgarh, May 16 (UNI) The state's Principal Chief Conservator of Forests has issued directives to divisional forest officers (DFOs) across Chhattisgarh to rediscover the Forest Owlet, a rare species first spotted in 1872 by British environmentalist F R Blewitt on the Bans Phuljhar road.

''Hence it was named Blewitt's Owlet. In 1998, the bird was rediscovered in Maharashtra's Nandurbar district and the Centre decided on an extensive survey,'' said DFO (Korba) Arun Pandey.

Meanwhile, Pune-resident Dr Prachi Mehta initiated research on the owlet. Her studies, between April 2005 and 2007, expressed the likelihood of the bird's presence at nine locations in Chhattisgarh including Korba, Mahasamund, Bilaspur, Dantewada, Kanker, Kondagaon and Jagdalpur.

''A team comprising local officials would be formed in every forest division and trained to identify the owlet by the 'playback call procedure' wherein a cassette containing owl calls will be played after midnight,'' explained Mr Pandey.

Places where the owlet is found would be declared as protected.

UNI